More about pawn structure

Here is where I’ve got to with pawn structure after two seasons. For what it’s worth, with a minute on the clock, every plan I’d ever learned left my head at once. I’ve kept at it mostly out of curiosity, and partly out of stubbornness.

The slow part

A junior half my height beat me in under an hour and then politely showed me where I’d gone wrong. My opponent, a retired teacher, offered a draw with such kindness that I was suspicious for the rest of the evening. I don’t want to make too much of this, but it did make me happier than it should have. I keep a note of these things now, because I forget them faster than I’d like.

Looking back, I underestimated pawn structure. One quiet Sunday I went back to the beginning and started again. Some of this was down to luck, and I’m happy to take it. I don’t think I’ll ever be much good, and that has made the whole thing a great deal more enjoyable.

Start earlier than seems necessary.

Notes to self

Part of the problem was the post-mortem, although I didn’t want to admit it at the time. My first instinct was to blame the old scoresheets, and my first instinct is usually wrong. There’s a lot of strong opinion about this, and most of it seems to come from people with more time than me.

Every time I think I’ve got the hang of pawn structure, something reminds me that I haven’t. Most of what I know about pawn structure came from getting things wrong first. There’s still plenty I can’t explain, and I’ve made peace with that. I spent most of a slow April fussing over pawn structure, and I’m not sure I have much to show for it.

That’s all for now; I’ll add to this when there’s something worth adding.